So what happens if your child can read and starts at a school were reading isn't meeting targets?

[twentypence]

We are in NZ. Ds will start school on his 5th birthday in Feb, in week 3 of the new year.

He taught himself to read, and can now read Oxford Reading tree 3 on his own and ORT 4 and Apple Tree Farm books with help with the odd word he hasn't come across before (then when he sees it in another book he's got it).

The school he is going to has just been inspected by ERO (sort of like OFSTED) and the report says many of years 0-2 are not meeting the standards nationally or for that school for reading. Years 3-8 are fine.

I have no idea what this means for him. Will he be fine because he can already read? I am going to make an appointment with the Head as I am aware that there could be a reason for the poor reading that he could tell me, but they can't put in the report IYSWIM.

Where reading isn't meeting targets. it would have to be on an education thread wouldn't it?

they should assess him and stretch him accordingly, the fact that they aren't meeting targets isn't always a reflection on the school, especially if they are meeting them in the later years, but may be a reflection on the intake?
Nontheless I would still monitor it.

Yes this was my thought, the school only has 193 pupils from 5-13 years old, so it wouldn't take much to get a bad statistic would it? Though the result is for the last 3 years, that would cover that intake of years 0-2. If next time it says years 3-6 are bad then it would prove it - but a little late for ds!

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Ds was like that at just 4 - he thought that we would stop reading to him if he showed us he could read. No stopping him now though - although we are still expected to read 3 stories so we have to allow an hour before bed to get through his 3 and our 3!

It's important to remember that the proportion of pupils reaching a particular level doesn't really tell you how likely your own child is to reach that level. I'd concentrate on how the school deals with your own child.

I've just told someone else that on another thread .

It's reasonable to ask the question at the moment though isn't it, give the head chance to explain the figures and then ask how they affect ds.

Last report said that numeracy was badly taught throughout the school - that has been totally sorted out in 2 years.

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I think that talking to the Head about a document in the public domain which you are supposed to read as part of choosing a school, and asking for some more information on the only bad part of the review is better than listening to six months of "you're sending your child there - none of them can read at that school". (Which obviously isn't the case) without knowing the simple explanation.

I like to think it makes me interested and responsible rather than pushy. Surely pushy is when you ring up and scream all sorts at the poor man without listening to what he has to say?

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The school is small - so "many children" could actually be about 3-5 children - which isn't many at all.

I suppose I am expecting a logical explanation as statistics don't always show you the true picture.

I rang the Principal who assured me that it is 5 or so children (which as a percentage of the small school is thus quite big) and they have extra resources to help them.